The University of Arizona | College of Social & Behavioral Sciences Fall 2024 Developments Issue

DEVELOPMENTS

Fall 2024

WELCOME FROM THE DEAN

Welcome to the fall issue of Developments. The featured stories reflect the deep interconnection between the College of SBS and the community. A new Eminent Scholars Chair — the Edwin and Alma Lakin Holocaust, Human Rights, and Comparative Genocide Endowed Chair — came about because of a $2 million gift and the long-term partnership between the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies and Tucson’s Jewish community. The School Garden Workshop, which supports K-12 students and teachers in Tucson, will expand its regional and national impact thanks to a $1 million gift from Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation. This issue also features SBS Advisory Board member Kelley Steven-Waiss, who assists and advocates for the college. The various ways our majors translate into public sector jobs is spotlighted by Oro Valley Police Chief Kara Riley and recent graduate Arden Holloway, who is working as a transit planner/sustainability specialist. While we rightly often brag about our talented students and faculty, in SBS we never lose sight of the fact that our donors, alumni, and community partners help to make so much of what we do possible. Thank you! Together, we transform lives through giving. ~ Lori Poloni-Staudinger, Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

New School of Global Studies

Creates Powerful Synergies

This past summer, the School of Global Studies was created in the College of SBS. The school brings together the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, Global Studies major, Human Rights Practice Program, Arizona Center for Judaic Studies, Center

for Latin American Studies, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies, and Southwest Center.

Offering seven majors, nine minors, and five graduate programs, the school provides students with the knowledge and interdisciplinary skills to become critically engaged agents of change in an interconnected world. The school includes two federally funded Title VI National Resource Centers in Latin America and the Middle East, as well as an Arabic Flagship Program, one of only three in the country. The school also provides many events for the community and professional development for K-12 and community college instructors.

The units in the School of Global Studies share a commitment to interdisciplinary approaches to the pressing challenges of our time, with a focus on international, global, regional, gender, and ethnic issues. We are excited to expand collaborations and student opportunities!

Lori Poloni-Staudinger

Honoring Shaping the Past,

the future

Advancing Holocaust and Human Rights Studies at the University of Arizona

The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies, or ACJS, established in 2004 at the University of Arizona, has cultivated a strong partnership with Tucson’s vibrant Jewish community. Housed within the School of Global Studies in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the center offers a wide range of courses on Jewish history, religion, culture, and language — including a comprehensive Hebrew language program. Recently, the center announced the creation of a new Eminent Scholars Chair: the Edwin and Alma Lakin Holocaust, Human Rights, and Comparative Genocide Endowed Chair. The Lakin Chair is made possible by a $2 million gift commitment from a lead anonymous donor and additional gifts from Tucson community members. The creation of the endowment is also significantly supported by prominent Tucson-area and U of A philanthropists Paul and Alice Baker.

“I am deeply grateful to the Tucson community members who have funded the Edwin and Alma Lakin Holocaust, Human Rights, and Comparative Genocide Endowed Chair,” said Lori Poloni-Staudinger, dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Studies. “Their vision and generosity will broaden the college’s expertise and outreach on these crucial topics.”

“The Lakin Chair is the result of a long-term partnership between the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies and its friends in Tucson’s Jewish community,” said David Graizbord, director of the center. “We, the faculty and staff of the center, are deeply grateful for the success of this partnership, on which the center’s success depends.”

PRESERVING JEWISH HERITAGE: THE LAKIN CHAIR MISSION

The leading donor of the Lakin Chair grew up with a deep-rooted commitment to preserving Jewish history, instilled by a family devoted to the memory of the Shoah, which is Hebrew for “calamity.” In the 1970s, this dedication led them to an Israeli kibbutz, where they embraced communal values, hard work, and a sense of social responsibility. Upon returning to the U.S., the donor channeled their passion into supporting higher education and aiding individuals with disabilities.

An enthusiastic reader of Jewish history and a regular participant in lectures sponsored by the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, the donor has long supported ACJS and sees the Lakin Chair as a vital investment in both scholarship and quality of life at the university.

The Chair is named for the late Edwin and Alma Lakin — philanthropists and dedicated community supporters who committed themselves to Holocaust education, to the people of Israel, to Jewish life, and to combating antisemitism. They were among the founding supporters of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and spearheaded and underwrote the establishment of the Edwin & Alma N. ‘51 Lakin Holocaust Library & Resource Center at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania.

The inaugural holder of the Chair is Leonard Hammer, whose education includes a JD from Georgetown University, an LLM in international law from New York University, and a Ph.D. in international human rights from the University of London.

Leonard Hammer with University of Arizona study abroad students outside the Old City of Jerusalem, 2018. Credit: David Graizbord

Hammer is a senior lecturer at the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies. He co-founded, helps administer, and teaches in the U of A Human Rights Practice Program. He was also the David and Andrea Stein Visiting Professor of Modern Israel Studies at the ACJS. His research spans international law, human rights, the Middle East, and sacred spaces. In 2022, he received an SBS Teaching Award.

The Lakin Chair will be the platform for a dynamic role: Its holder will be responsible for teaching, conducting research, promoting public educational programming, and inviting scholars to the U of A to generate new scholarship.

“I am honored and grateful to carry on the legacy of Eddie and Alma Lakin, specifically to cultivate the means for proper Holocaust memorialization and education, which will permit and foment insight into future atrocity prevention,” Hammer said.

“I am excited that the Chair includes a comparative genocide component as well as a focus on human rights,” Hammer added. “I have professional contacts in these fields from people around the world who are already eager and interested in taking part in our activities. I envision having experts in Holocaust studies and education in the first round of visiting scholars. As we expand programming, I foresee building out events, especially in the area of memorialization.”

N EW PROGRAMMING WILL EXPAND ENGAGEMENT

One focus of the Lakin Chair will be the yearly convening of an advisory board — comprised of Judaic Studies faculty, faculty from other academic units, non-faculty, and one outside scholar — to choose a yearly and/or triennial theme that will help shape how grants are written, decide on scholarly invitations, and determine what types of academic and public educational content are produced.

“I am looking forward to creating new avenues of engagement between faculty and students, especially with the visiting faculty,” Hammer said. “The structure will afford students broader comparative perspectives than are currently available, and open new vistas for community en-

gagement. Further, we will play to the strengths of existing ACJS programming, including the U of A Summer in Israel experience.”

In addition to the Holocaust, the Chair will carefully study topics like reconciliation commissions and the Rohingya human rights crisis in Myanmar.

“Leonard has emphasized that human rights law and its institutional regime, in which he is an expert, emerges directly from the Holocaust,” Graizbord noted.

The chairholder will maintain a strong connection between the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies and Tucson’s Jewish community. Graizbord explains that while regular supporters of the Tucson Jewish Community Center can still expect familiar collaborative lectures, events, and conferences, there will also be new programming. The ACJS will develop that programming in collaboration with, among others, the Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center with the aim of expanding U of A’s viewing and listening audiences.

“The Chair opens opportunities to offer public lectures and meet with community members in a more personal and intimate setting than in big, public lectures,” Hammer said. “Smaller groups of people allow for richer discourse and deeper discussions.”

Stuart Mellan, retired CEO of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and a long-time community partner of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies, is enthusiastic about the creation of this endowment and the work it will support.

“It’s been thrilling to see the center grow and thrive through the years,” Mellan said. “This newly expanding area of focus will be incredibly relevant not only in academia but also in the center’s outreach to the community, where it has distinguished itself and made such a powerful impact.”

Leonard Hammer

Leonard Hammer with University of Arizona study abroad students at the Knesset Building, Israel, 2018. Credit: David Graizbord

Growing Minds & Community

U

of A School Garden Workshop Expands with Sprouts House

Last year, Keyan Dickson’s sixth-grade science class at Mansfeld Middle Magnet School got to work in the school garden. The students harvested native and non-native plants, measured ingredients, and created recipes for dyes — learning where the plants originated, their use in different cultures, and how they support the economy.

Projects like this, which combine gardening and food education, are part of the University of Arizona School Garden Workshop, or SGW — a program that connects Tucson K-12 students and their communities to food, through handson nutrition and culinary experiences, centered around a school garden model.

The School Garden Workshop, housed in the School of Geography, Development and Environment in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, is a multi-year partnership with Tucson Unified School District. In addition to placing U of A interns at 18 under-resourced schools, the program supports over 60 school gardens, providing teachers with professional development, curricular resources, consultations, and community workdays.

Soon, the SGW will expand its community reach and nationwide educational capacity through the creation of Sprouts House, made possible by a $1 million lead gift from Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation — the corporate foundation of Sprouts Farmers Market Inc.

The Sprouts House project includes the renovation of two U of A-owned historical houses next to Mansfeld Magnet Middle School. One bungalow will be renovated into a community classroom and the other into a commercial kitchen. The yard will become a teaching and production garden with a greenhouse. The Sprouts House’s proximity to the university makes it an ideal location for training

interns enrolled in the SGW course. Sprouts House also will provide program continuation for several westside elementary school gardens and the garden at Tucson High Magnet School. The project’s total cost is $2 million, and the goal is for Sprouts House to be operational by late spring 2025.

“Sprouts House will be the linchpin in the School Garden Workshop’s K-12 school garden pipeline and the coalescence of 15 years of school garden experience, deep community need, and the perfect time and place,” said Moses Thompson, director of the School Garden Workshop.

The vision is for Sprouts House to be a national model school garden and culinary education center, Thompson said. Each year, Sprouts House is projected to impact 150 educators, 150 university students, and more than 6,000 K-12 students.

The Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation helps kids thrive by making nutrition education and gardening accessible. Through partnerships with nonprofits, kids learn to

The Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation presented the university’s School Garden Workshop with more than $1 million on May 15. Credit: Chris Richards/University Communications

Students in the School Garden Workshop. Credit: Moses Thompson

grow and prepare healthy foods, which encourages healthy habits.

“Sprouts is all about building healthy communities. When we saw the opportunity to connect to Mansfeld Middle School with these two bungalow houses right across the street, we wanted the space to be something that would inspire kids and be a point of pride for the community,” said Lyndsey Waugh, executive director of the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation.

Sprouts supports school garden programs in over 10,000 schools across 23 states and quickly recognized the workshop’s reputation, eager to become a supporter. When the idea of establishing a best-in-class educational center came up, Sprouts was on board from day one.

“No other organization does it better than School Garden Workshop when it comes to connecting the university, schools, and the community, in the school garden space,” Waugh said. “All of us at Sprouts are proud to be part of this project and to share in the incredible impact it will have on children and our community for years to come.”

THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE PROGRAM: FOSTERING EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Maria Celis is the SGW K-12 curriculum specialist whose hands-on, interdisciplinary approach takes students outdoors to learn about topics like ecology, which is how Keyan’s class explored botany through plant dying.

“The coolest part was how Ms. Maria came out to help us and teach us new stuff like learning how to weave artworks and dye thread,” Keyan said.

Lindsay Aguilar, director of the TUSD Food Services Department, has collaborated with Thompson for 10 years.

“To me, as a registered dietitian, empowering students with the knowledge of nutrition and food and having that be part of their educational experience is a life skill,” Aguilar said. “Having students see the benefits of their hard work, growing food in the school garden — we know from research that if they grow it, they’re much more inclined to consume and enjoy it.”

“The School Garden Workshop’s positive impact on U of A students, K-12 students, and our community will now expand due to the generosity and vision of Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation.”

~ Lori Poloni-Staudinger, SBS Dean

INTERNSHIPS INTEGRAL TO SUCCESS

Since its inception in 2011, the SGW has trained 40 to 60 U of A interns a semester to serve in TUSD schools. Interns log up to 12 hours per week, supporting teachers who use the gardens to teach ‘real world’ applications that complement classroom lessons. To date, over 800 U of A students representing 64 majors have participated.

“The students respond to the immediate needs of the schools,” said Thompson. “That’s garden maintenance, planting and harvesting. They are trained to do curriculum development and use the garden as teaching spaces and to use the gardens therapeutically. They do food literacy and culinary activities. And they help coordinate and run community farmers markets with the produce grown.”

Marissa Diaz took the SGW in fall 2023 as part of her B.A. program. She sees Sprouts House as an opportunity to offer K-12 students nontraditional learning experiences.

“It’s a space where they can explore, experiment, and connect with their environment in ways that they might not have access to otherwise,” Diaz said.

LOOKING AHEAD

With the initial donation of $1,050,000 from Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation, the project seeks additional support, including $350,000 for naming rights to the commercial kitchen. This essential space allows donors to contribute to the project’s success and emerging reputation as a nationwide model.

“Our program has gained a lot of national attention and there has been demand for us to go out and do work with other school garden nonprofits around the country,” Thompson said. “Sprouts House will serve as a national training site during the school year.”

Marissa Diaz sees Sprouts House as more than just a school garden model.

“For the larger community, Sprouts House helps to build a sense of unity and shared purpose,” Diaz said. “It’s about more than just growing plants — it’s about growing minds and strengthening community connections.”

Yarn soaking in jars of plant dye at Mansfeld Middle Magnet School.

Credit: Maria Celis

Transforming Law Enforcement

Community Engagement and Receptive Leadership

University of Arizona alumna Kara Riley grew up near a Sudanese prison, where she witnessed a reality that stood in stark contrast to the concept of justice as she understands it today. This experience shaped her life’s work.

“You would see people chained to a tree to die for theft,” Riley recounted. “And you realize, this is not a justice system.”

Those recollections remained vivid as Riley’s family moved from Sudan to Abu Dhabi and Taiwan — driven by her father’s dedication to “combating the worldwide epidemic of starvation.”

Eventually, they settled in Arizona. As a teenager, Riley’s path toward a career in law enforcement materialized when she was pulled over for speeding.

“I thought I was going down the lawyer road until that moment,” Riley said. But after asking the officer if a woman could do his job, his ‘yes’ changed her mind. Immediately, she knew her calling was to uphold the justice absent in her childhood — to be a “voice for the voiceless.”

Riley, a 1990 sociology graduate, joined the police force in 1992 and became Oro Valley police chief in 2020. “I chose this degree because it’s the study of human behavior, which I do every day in policing,” she says.

Her openness and proactive problem solving have built trust and improved practices, highlighting sociology’s vital role in her work.

Reflecting on her career, Riley notes the most significant challenges have come in the last five years, primarily because of the pandemic and George Floyd’s murder. She says these challenges underscored the need for collaborative law enforcement — both locally and nationally — and deeper community engagement.

“[During the pandemic] I counted on the leadership of the men and women here at the agency and frankly, police

officers across this country,” Riley said. “We’ve become better because we had to hear and see things about our profession we didn’t want to.”

EMBRACING TRANSPARENCY & LEARNING FROM THE NEXT GENERATION

For Riley, doing better means confronting biases and modeling transparent communication.

“One of my biggest passions is having an open dialog with the public,” Riley said.

This openness manifests in her work with the next generation of officers, as she aims to learn from and empower those she leads.

“This next generation of leaders naturally have an open mind about perspectives and different views,” Riley said. “So, my generation of policing — maybe not as open-minded, maybe a little rigid, and . . . I’ve had to evolve.”

Riley’s drive toward positive change extends to her U of A Campus Safety Commission role, where she offers expertise to address safety issues on campus.

“What I love about the commission is the diversity from every section of the university, all in one room,” Riley explained. “It’s a unique way to have . . . honest, courageous conversations that better the university as a whole.”

Riley’s love for the University of Arizona comes from her father, James Riley, who spent nearly 50 years in the Department of Environmental Science. Like him, she holds basketball season tickets.

“It’s in our DNA — my father had season tickets before Snowden was coach,” Riley said.

She shares her dad’s passion for work, too.

“He used to say, ‘If you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life,’ and he was right,” Riley said. “I’m so glad I started in this field — I would absolutely do it all over again.”

Oro Valley Chief of Police Kara Riley

SBS Board Q&A: Kelley Steven-Waiss

Kelley Steven-Waiss — a U of A journalism alumna — is a mother of four, tech founder, speaker, board member, author of Inside Gig and Valley Girls, a former chief human resources officer, and currently the chief transformation officer at ServiceNow, a software company that uses AI to optimize IT services and user experience. An advocate and staunch supporter of women, Steven-Waiss coaches and mentors female founders, investors, and leaders. She recently joined the SBS Advisory Board and shared how she hopes to lend her expertise and experience to champion students and improve visibility for emerging talent.

You are an advocate for women in business. How will that manifest in your role as a board member?

We have an opportunity to help young and underrepresented women find their path, identify their aspirations, and remove barriers for those who can’t afford education or don’t have access. That’s a benefit to all students. For women, we see a lot of them dropping out early because they might be first generation and lack support, or they’re trying to take care of their families while going back to start and/or finish college. There’s a lot of opportunity to be a voice in the SBS boardroom.

What motivated you to join the board?

I wanted to give back to the university in my after-college life because it holistically shaped a lot of who I am today. I was very involved in college — as part of student government, Greek life, serving as an orientation leader, and as a journalism school student. I got a great education, and I had a chance to learn about my interests and acquire skills like public speaking and writing that I still leverage in my professional life.

How can SBS position itself as a leader in AI education to attract attention in today’s competitive tech landscape?

AI is the most popular topic in every organization today. Everyone is trying to codify their strategy for AI and acquire the talent necessary to future-proof their organizations. Part of that strategy is how those organizations prepare their workforce. At ServiceNow, we have a program called Rise Up, which targets aspiring technical and non-technical talent across varied backgrounds and experiences and teaches the skills necessary to both build and implement AI solutions on ServiceNow. There’s a massive amount of re-skilling and up-skilling required across multiple industries. Preparing students for the next generation of work leveraging AI is crucial. We must build a reputation for preparing the next generation to remain competitive in the future workforce and demonstrate to prospective students that the U of A provides a strong foundation in emerging fields like AI.

Are there any key initiatives or projects you hope to champion during your tenure as a board member?

I want to raise more capital for the College of SBS to ensure equity of access to education and be a magnet for outstanding educators. Here, I offer my skills and experience in building a great brand and message platform to market our SBS program. We want to show SBS as a great place to get an education and build the foundation for a prosperous career. In short, I want to do more to reach top students who haven’t considered the U of A.

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INNOVATION CIRCLE STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Arden Holloway (’24) recently graduated as an honors student with a 4.0 GPA, double majoring in urban and regional development and Arabic, and minoring in both geographic information science technology and gender and women’s studies. They were also the recipient of the SBS Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award for spring 2024 and an Innovation Circle Scholar. After graduation,

Arden’s hard work and focus quickly paid off. They stepped into a hybrid position as a transit planner/ sustainability specialist with Valley Metro, the regional public transportation authority in Phoenix.

“I’m loving the role,” Arden said, highlighting how their responsibilities include contributing to transit service studies and major capital projects like light rail extensions, while also organizing Valley Metro’s greenhouse gas emissions accounting and leading the agency’s sustainability program.

The support Arden received from their Innovation Circle Patron was a significant driving force behind their journey to success.

“The SBS Innovative Circle Scholarship was a key source of funding in my undergraduate education,” Arden said. “Shelley Sherman’s generous donation provided me with the funding necessary to attend U of A with less financial pressure and spend quality time on my academics. Thank you for supporting my education!”